Jeremiah 22:22-23 – Magnanimity Unmasked?
22
The wind shall eat up all your rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
23
O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like the pain of a woman in labor?
"Lord," reflects Tim Keller in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life, "my forgiveness is skin deep. I refrain from obvious efforts to pay (people) back, but I simmer."
Jeremiah 22:22-23 adds enough of the heat of God's correction that such simmering boils over. The majesty and magnanimity of the worst which was easy to manufacture when they operated in an environment subject to their comfort and control will be shown as a skin-deep sham when shame, instead, lays hold of them. Thus convicted, they will be more interested in self-protection than the welfare of the flock.
The Scripture likewise challenges the Lebanese as to how thoroughgoing is he suppose it graciousness they formerly displayed. When they were at an advantage, when the cedar trees the Lord granted them by His grace made their favor sought after by the nations, as with David and Solomon, it was easy to be polite, or to feign politeness. What about now, imposes the Lord, when there is no prescribed script of obsequiousness, when He is bringing something new to pass through human pain and on HIS terms?
We can only maintain civility, or go the extra mile beyond it true charity, in such circumstances if we truly trust the One in control. We can only summon love, joy, and peace, and kindness, and gentleness, and self-control in upheaval if we draw them from outside of ourselves, our habits, and our experience.
There is a King, after all, who beat shame and in Whom there is no condemnation. He took the worst score man had to offer, overflowed forgiveness every time He was pricked, and kept His eyes focused on the joy that was set before Him. There is One Whose position was loftier than Lebanon cedars, Who came down from such a privileged position, sympathized with the pain of women in labor, and took agony upon Himself to bring about a new order.
Christ was proven all the way through, under the greatest of provocations. His virtues flowed from His great heart, pierced. They were so much more than simmering condescension withheld, so much more than skin deep.
Even now, they flow toward, and in, and through His own, and will forevermore. His grace so much more transformative and lasting than a ritual of social niceties. By that grace, He makes a people out of those who were not a people and patterns how we interact with each other with loving disregard for our own advantage.
The wind shall eat up all your rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
23
O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like the pain of a woman in labor?
"Lord," reflects Tim Keller in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life, "my forgiveness is skin deep. I refrain from obvious efforts to pay (people) back, but I simmer."
Jeremiah 22:22-23 adds enough of the heat of God's correction that such simmering boils over. The majesty and magnanimity of the worst which was easy to manufacture when they operated in an environment subject to their comfort and control will be shown as a skin-deep sham when shame, instead, lays hold of them. Thus convicted, they will be more interested in self-protection than the welfare of the flock.
The Scripture likewise challenges the Lebanese as to how thoroughgoing is he suppose it graciousness they formerly displayed. When they were at an advantage, when the cedar trees the Lord granted them by His grace made their favor sought after by the nations, as with David and Solomon, it was easy to be polite, or to feign politeness. What about now, imposes the Lord, when there is no prescribed script of obsequiousness, when He is bringing something new to pass through human pain and on HIS terms?
We can only maintain civility, or go the extra mile beyond it true charity, in such circumstances if we truly trust the One in control. We can only summon love, joy, and peace, and kindness, and gentleness, and self-control in upheaval if we draw them from outside of ourselves, our habits, and our experience.
There is a King, after all, who beat shame and in Whom there is no condemnation. He took the worst score man had to offer, overflowed forgiveness every time He was pricked, and kept His eyes focused on the joy that was set before Him. There is One Whose position was loftier than Lebanon cedars, Who came down from such a privileged position, sympathized with the pain of women in labor, and took agony upon Himself to bring about a new order.
Christ was proven all the way through, under the greatest of provocations. His virtues flowed from His great heart, pierced. They were so much more than simmering condescension withheld, so much more than skin deep.
Even now, they flow toward, and in, and through His own, and will forevermore. His grace so much more transformative and lasting than a ritual of social niceties. By that grace, He makes a people out of those who were not a people and patterns how we interact with each other with loving disregard for our own advantage.
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